Hanoi (VNA) - With the schoolyear ravaged by COVID-19 induced school closures nationwide, the all-importanthigh school examinations are set for a slight shake-up, but universities wantto stand pat.

The Ministry of Education and Training plansto use the high school graduation examination this year simply to recognisestudents who finish the high school’s education programme, instead of doublingup as the university entrance exam.

Colleges and universities will be allowed toenrol students using their own criteria instead of solely relying onthe high school graduation examination’s results as before.

However, at a meeting chaired by Deputy PrimeMinister Vu Duc Dam on April 27 afternoon, representatives from colleges anduniversities said they still wanted to base their decisions on the highschool graduation exam results, leaving this year's crop of graduates inessentially the same boat as those in the past.

The representatives said they had faith inthe examination’s results, considering them an important base for makingenrollment decisions.

In the 2020 high school examination,candidates are expected to take three compulsory tests in maths, literature,foreign language and one optional test of combined natural or social sciencesubjects. Of which, the natural science test combines physics, chemistry andbiology, while the social science test mixes history, geography andcitizen education.

When changes to this year’s high schoolexamination were announced earlier, the ministry proposed that the naturalscience test and social science test each have an aggregate score insteadof three separate scores.

However, at the meeting, Minister ofEducation and Training Phung Xuan Nha decided they would keep separate scoresfor the subjects like in previous years.

The move would help colleges or universitiesuse separate results to make better decisions.

According to Nha, the 2020 high schoolexamination will take place two days in August, about two months laterthan in previous years.

There would be fewer difficult questionsmeant for the most gifted students as well, Nha said. 

Besides taking the high school examinationorganised by the ministry for university admission, colleges or universitiescan run examinations by themselves or use their own ways to enrol studentsunder the Law on Education and the Law on Higher Education which takeseffect from July this year.

Dam asked the ministry to promptly issueexamination regulations and publicise samples of the tests so candidatesand their families felt reassured despite the severely interruptedlearning due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

He called on the ministry to organise a safe,honest and high-quality examination so public would not be so confused aboutthe examination’s changes./.